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The world of advertising, although very rewarding, can be a frustrating one. There are so many things to consider, so many target demographics to keep in mind and a ridiculous amount of trial-and-error before things finally start taking shape. Fortunately, there is a respite from this tedious formula and it is called performance marketing.

Considering how performance marketing pretty much helps you measure almost anything within its bounds, and allows you to sit back and wait for results while your affiliates/publishers are marketing your product, it sure seems like a good way to go about marketing. Some would go as far as saying that it is downright the best marketing method to implement in the web.

However, there are some misconceptions to performance marketing. Little pitfalls and traps that advertisers fall for which can be very detrimental to their success. What misconceptions am I talking about, you might ask? I’ve listed seven of them below.

All you need to do is to setup the campaign one time, and you’re good to go.

Some advertisers have the wrong notion that once they’ve initially set up their campaign, they no longer need to sweat the details. Just like any other medium in marketing, if you want a successful campaign, then you need to keep up your communication with your publishers.

Feedback is and always will be the lifeblood of any campaign; performance marketing only simplifies the process.

Constantly testing/measuring your campaign’s result is also crucial if you want to maximize your profits and spend your resources on campaigns that bring in cash. Without doing this, chances are, you’ll end-up wasting a lot of your resources on campaigns that aren’t even profitable.

I can advertise anything using performance marketing, even terrible products.

Another terrible misconception in the world of performance marketing, thinking this way will only damage the reputation of the businesses involved. Advertising is not the end all and be all of Internet marketing. Advertisers need to make sure that the products never want in quality before promoting it.

Performance marketing eliminates the need for other forms of advertisement.

Thinking that performance marketing will solve all of your problems, is a surefire way of not solving anything at all. An advertiser needs to consider promotion from every angle. Do not rely on performance marketing to do all of the work for you.

You can also get amazing results on other internet marketing methods like email marketing. Considering how people are always online nowadays with the rise of Smartphones and other mobile devices, with the introduction of responsive email design, the results you’ll get from your email marketing campaign can be phenomenal!

I need to target every demographic I can get my hands on.

Similar to the “Spray n’ Pray” tactic, some advertisers believe that the more people they target, the better their chances are to succeed. This means that instead of going for the demographic that is sure to react positively, some advertisers choose to spread their campaign out to the general public.

It is almost completely guaranteed that the product advertised will not be for everyone, and while you might get results in the form of people clicking or signing up, the amount of people willing to pay will end up being far less than if you had targeted a specific demographic.

Since you’ve already paid for the action (sign-ups and clicks), but aren’t really getting anything in return since the ones clicking and signing-up aren’t really buying, then that means you’re just losing valuable resources.

By only paying for the results, the advertiser can rest easy in the fact that the campaign promotion is already being taken care of. But advertisers and agencies need to remember that performance marketing cannot guarantee a successful venture, it only gives the products the exposure it needs to grow.